Mary, If you feel uncomfortable as a woman, you should try
putting yourself in the position of a single male! I've
learned to live with the constant anxiety in the company of
children of being presumed or suspected of being a paedophile.
Unless I am well acquainted with them and their parents, I
wouldn't dare touch a child, and even when I do know them I am
still constantly mindful of not doing anything with them that
could possibly be seen as "inappropriate".

It is a sad state of affairs, but one that is impossible to
change in the kind of society we have created. There ARE a
fair number of paedophiles out there (although the threat they
pose ranges widely) and I can understand why parents are
concerned and inclined to err on the side of caution.

The media (your lot) doesn't help either, whipping up
hysteria, as it does about all sorts of things, for the sake
of a story and promoting business.

Human feelings and behaviour evolved over millions of years to
serve our survival in family groups, where everyone was known
to everyone else. It has had no time to adapt to the far larger
social units of civilisation, which only arose a few thousand
years ago. It is no wonder that society is (and always has
been) in such a terrible state. But because it forms an
artificial socio-economic environment (which has replaced the
natural environment) which we are totally immersed in and
dependent upon, we don't (or barely) recognise it.